


World of Elestia: The Winter Dragon (Book 1: Spring)

by DingDongResistance



Series: World of Elestia [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Future, Dragons, Elestia, Fantasy, Gen, Monsters, Monsters Tamers, Original Fiction, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22557628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DingDongResistance/pseuds/DingDongResistance
Summary: Elementum Bestia, or Elestia for short. Ten years ago these animal-like alien creatures with the power of Nature on their side invaded Earth with the help of eight terryfingly powerful Dragons who are the masters of the eight Natures Elestia can possess. Fire, Earth, Water, Ice, Wind, Lightning, Mind and Death.Like a lot of people Oliver Wilden grew up hating these creatures and wanted nothing more than to see them all dead. But after meeting a mysterious girl named Clara Balsam and reluctantly befriending a wild Elestia that saved his life. Oliver vowed to join the Ding Dong Resistance and slay the Dragons no matter what it take.
Series: World of Elestia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623052





	1. End of The Old World

**July 16, 2069. day of the Invasion.**

An old man with a face sagging with age walked hurriedly into the labotary. He wore a white coat almost too big for him. Under the coat he had a red shirt, he also wore a pair of jeans worn down with age. He had long white spiky hairs that almost made him look like an old lion, the image was further helped by how confidently he walked throught the lab as if he owned it, which to be fair he did.

The old man turned toward one of his loyal employer who was looking around the lab nervously. ''How are things going? Are we ready for the first test?'' He asked the younger man with a booming voice that could be heard in all the lab.

''U-um Professor Dogwood our preparation are almost ready, the first test should begin in about two minutes.'' The younger man responded shakily.

Benjamin Dogwood nodded with a satisfied expression plastered on his face. ''I can't believe it's finally close to completition, my life's work. With this we will change the world of space travel. You should be proud Professor Wilden!'' Professor Dogwood said before slapping the man on the back with a loud guffaw.

At that moment a woman with a no-nonsense expression came toward both of them holding a clipboard in her hands. ''Professor Dogwood? Please take your place. We're about to open the portal.''

The old scientist walked quickly toward a room full of chairs facing a complex machine humming with barely contained raw energy. The Professor sat in the front row keeping his eyes fixed on the machine as if he was scared it would vanish out of thin air at any moments.

They had to wait around five more minutes for the seat to fill in. When the seats were finally all filled, the same younger scientist from before came on stage. He looked just as nervous as before maybe even more. ''Hello everyone my name is Professor Franklin Wilden. I work here as both a scientist and the chief engineer of Balsam Wood labotary.'' The man took a pause to take a sip of a glass of water and then took a deep breath to continue his speech.

''Today is a historic day for both science and humanity. Our team of scientists worked tirelessly for almost a decade now to advance space travel technology to the point where we can send humans to other galaxies. Something most people thought would take another century at least. But we decided to think outside the box. We always thought we wouldn't be able to reach other galaxies until we managed to travel at the speed of light. But thanks to the revolutionary invention of the D.T. Starleap we won't need to. This invention will allow astronauts to teleport their ship anywhere with a precision of around one thousand kilometers. Rendering the need for light speed completely moot.'' The nervous man stopped talking as the crowd started clapping politely at his speech.

''And with that I'm happy to let Professor Benjamin Dogwood take the stage.'' The man sighed in relief as he exited the stage, he never was any good with crowds. Before he could retreat any further a young boy ran toward him and grabbed him by the leg.

''Daddy! Are you done with your boring speech? I'm hungry!'' Franklin rosed an eyebrow at that.

''Boring? This invention could change our world forever! It will be like all those movies you always love to watch.'' Judging by the bored looks on his face the boy wasn't interested.

''Sure it will, you always say that and then only a handful of people ever get to touch your inventions.'' He said with a pout.

The man rolled his eyes evidently this wasn't the first time this conversation had came up. ''Listen teleportation is not a toy, we can't give it to just anyone. We need to give it to people who will use it responsibly.'' He said in a lecturing tone.

''Boring! I'm hungry, can we go eat?'' The boy asked restlessly.

The man sighed in barely conceiled annoyance. ''Professor Dogwood is about to open the portal for the first time, I can't miss that for-'' He was interrupted as he noticed the growl in his own stomach. ''Ugh, fine I guess I'm hungry too and the first test won't be that interesting anyway. After all for the first test we will only open the Starleap at a random locations in space to begin with. We'll probably see nothing but empty space for the first few tests. So let's go eat.''

\- - - - -

The engine roared as the light finally turned green. ''Ugh I hate the city, there's way too much people on the streets.'' Franklin complained with an annoyed expression plastered on his face. Looking in the mirror he saw his son looking out of the window with a bored expression. ''So Oliver, you're about to start school next year huh? Are you excited?''

''I guess.'' The boy replied in a bored tone while continuing to stare at the cars as they passed them.

Franklin sighed at that and looked at the reflection of Oliver in the mirror. ''Look I get it it hasn't been easy since your mother passed away. These last few months I wasn't able get out of the lab much because of Starleap. But I promise we will get to spend more time together once this project is done.'' The man was only met with silence. ''Oh look we're here! Your favorite restaurant.''

Oliver reluctantly followed his father into the building. It was a small restaurant one that you might easily overlook as you drove down the street. But the people who lived around here knew that there was no better chicken in the city than in the little restaurant, simply known as Barry.

A young woman stood behind the counter and immediatly smiled as she saw the both of them. ''Franklin! About time you showed up! I was begining to think you didn't like this place anymore.''

Franklin chuckled at that. ''This is the best restaurant in the city. There's no way I would ever stop loving this place.''

Then the woman looked down and smiled at the boy behind Franklin. ''Oh and is that little Oliver? You have grown so much since the last time you were here! So... Both of you want the ususal?'' At that Franklin nodded eagerly. The woman made her way toward the kitchen while Franklin and Oliver went to sit on their favorite table.

The table was far in the corner which meant they wouldn't get disturbed by people coming close to their tables. Instead of the usual wooden chairs, the seating were made out of a large cushion which made the table even better.

It took a while for their order to come out of the kitchen. But once the waitress came back an put their meal on their table, both Franklin and Olliver dug in like a pair of ravenous wolves. Most of the meal was spent in silence. Both of them were too hungry to talk much about anything. Even if they weren't, neither of them really knew what to say to the other.

Both of them sighed contently as they finished their meal and fell in silence for a few minutes. That is until Franklin noticed that news of D.T. Starleap was on the television hanging from behind the counter. ''Sarah! Can you turn on the volume?'' The same woman from before looked at him in surprise before she looked at the television and understanding dawned on her. Without a word she took a remote and turned the volume up.

Professor Dogwood could be seen in front of the camera pointing to a huge contraption behind himself. ''...And with that I present to you the next step in mankind history. It is only fitting that it would take place here on this historic day. Exactly one hundred years since we landed on the Moon.'' The old man then proceeded to press on a large red button with a big yellow 'Warning' sign written above it. Immediatly the machine began to hum with power. It only took a few seconds for a blue vortex to appear inside a large metalic ring that was buzzing with electricity. It took a few more minutes before anything else happened. But finally the vortex cleared up and an image came to life inside of the blue veil. Then as far as the eyes could see, millions of stars appeared forming completely new constellations never before seen by humans.

Franklin held his breath as he saw this. ''Oh my God this is incredible... A completely alien galaxy. With this maybe we will finally discover a planet that could properly substain human's life.'' Franklin gaze was fixed on the screen tuning out everything else around him. But all too soon the portal closed and the television channel switched to playing some random cartoons. Franklin sighed as he realised the show was truly over. ''Well I guess that's that, we couldn't really expect to see a new planet right away. It was a miracle we were able to see so many new stars on the first try.''

Suddenly a chill ran throught Franklin entire body and his body began to tremble slightly from the sudden drop in temperature. ''Sarah, did you turn on the air conditioner?''

''Yes I did, but the temperature isn't supposed to be anywhere this cold.'' She replied with a confused expression on her face.

''Huh?!'' The voice of Oliver cried in surprise. Immediatly Franklin ran toward his son and looked at him worried.

''What's wrong?! Are you cold?'' He asked worriedly.

''Well yeah, but look at that! My juice completely froze!'' Franklin looked down on the table and just as his son had said the apple juice was now made of solid ice.

''What the hell is happening? I don't care how powerful your AC is there's no way it could freeze a liquid this quickly.'' Before anyone could reply the ground suddenly shook and many tables and chairs were sent tumbling on the ground. The earthquake was followed by a horrific roar that sent shiver down the spines of every patrons in the restaurant.

''D-dad? What was that?'' Oliver asked in a shaking voice and not from just the cold.

''I don't know, but I think we should get out of here.'' Without hesitation Franklin took Oliver in his arms and quickly made his way toward his car. He quickly took his key out of his pocket and tried to turn on the car, but the engine would not turn on. Franklin tried once again to start up the car but a sudden earthquake shook his car and broke one of his windows.

With a swear he gave up on the car and took Oliver in his arms once again before getting out of the vehicle. While exiting the car he saw many people running in the streets, panic clearly etched into their face. ''Excuse me can someone tell me what the hell is happening?!'' Franklin asked in a slighlty desperated voice.

Most of the people completely ignored him and continued to run as if their life depended on it. But one man turned to him with a terrified expression and screamed. ''Dragon!'' Franklin looked at the man and shook his head with a groan.

''Great the only guy that want to talk to me and he's a crackhead.'' Deciding to not stay around here any longer Franklin decided he would make his way back to the lab. The place had pratically become a bunker after Professor Dogwood became obsessed with protecting Project Starleap, not that he could blame him.

But only a few minutes after they left the restaurant they once again heard the roar and this time it was much closer than before. It was followed by a loud explosion that shook the ground. As he looked behind himself Franklin gasped in horror one of the skyscraper that doted the sky of Ringabell City had frozen in a solid chunk of ice and then it exploded into millions of pieces as something massive rammed into it. It was then that he saw it, a massive serpentine creature that floated in the sky of it's own free will. Franklin despite his years of studying science could only think of one name for the creature: ''Dragon!''

With clear panic Franklin started to run as fast as he could. ''T-this is not real right?'' Oliver asked in a fearful voice. ''I'm sure this is just another crazy nightmare and I'm just gonna wake up back home.'' The young boy said trying to convince himself more than anybody else.

Unbeknownst to them the Dragon had spot them. his serpentine body twisted and turn in the sky as it gave pursuit to the man and the boy with a predatory glint in it's eye. Before Franklin noticed the oncoming threat it was too late. The Dragon let out a huge breath of ice on the streets bellow itself and froze everything in sight.

To his horror Franklin noticed he had been stopped in his track and when he looked down he saw that one of his leg was trapped in ice. He tried as hard as he could to dislodge his leg and tried to hit on his frozen limb with his other foot. But there was nothing he could do to free his leg. With a resigned sigh he placed Oliver back on the ground.

''Oliver, I know you you're scared but you're going to have to go on without me.'' Franklin said in a serious tone.

The young boy's eyes widened in horror at that. ''What?! but-''

Franklin shook his head. ''There's no time to argue. Run as fast as you can and don't look back.'' he said in a grim voice.

''B-but I-'' Oliver began again.

''Oliver run, now!'' Franklin shouted at the top of his lungs. Oliver turned around and started running as fast as his legs could carry him. Franklin noticed that the Dragon looked at the small figure of Oliver with an almost hungry expression. Seeing this Franklin growled before taking his cell phone from his pocket and threw it right on the Dragon's face. ''Leave him alone you ugly piece of shit! I don't know where the hell you came from. But there's no way I'm letting some Stonean New Year's decoration hurt my son!''

The last thing Oliver heard from his father was an angry yell before it was silenced by a loud roared followed by a cold chill he still remember to this day...


	2. The Meeting

**Ten years later**

Ten years ago humans looked up to the stars and thought of finally achieving their dream of conquering the galaxy. But now here they were drifting thought the world like leaves over a forgotten pool. Orchestralia was once a thriving nation, you could say that each town and city were their own little piece of music and they unified together to create one of the of the most amazing and complex song known to the world.

But after the tragic events of the Invasion that song had fallen silent leaving only a echo of what it once was. The tragedy that befell Ringabell City was not an isolated incident, far from it. All over the world creatures of unknown origins invaded every major cities in the world and destroyed them without mercy.

Some of these creatures shared a lot of similarities to the animals of Earth while other look completely alien. But if there was one major thing that differentiated them from animals. It was their incredible powers.

Each of them had an affinity with an element of nature that they could use at whim. Not only that but they were also incredibly durable. Even guns and explosives didn't affected them. The only things human's weapons would accomplish against them would be to make them angry. We have come to call these creatures Elementum Bestia, or Elestia for short.

While regular Elestia can be fearsome there are some out there that are much more fearsome than others. The worse of them were the eight creatures that bought the downfall of humanity ten years ago. People all over the world have given them many names over the years. Demons, gods, kaiju, spirits. But in the end despite all the differences between these eight creatures people have settled on one name to call them by: Dragons.

Each of them represented one Nature of the Elestia. There's Vulcan the Dragon of Fire, Zeus the Dragon of Lightning, Amphirite the Dragon of Water, Gaia the Dragon of Earth, Zephyrus the Dragon of Wind, Ogma the Dragon of the Mind, Thanatos the Dragon of Death and finally Boreas the Dragon of Ice.

These creatures are said to have lived for millenia before coming to Earth and the Elestia apparently saw them as their deities. After ten long years humanity had all but given up on fighting these creatures, after multiple failed attempt at killing them...

\- - - - -

Oliver Wilden was not that different from everyone else. For years he had kept his head down and tried his best to survive as best as he could. Some people would call him a coward, a vagabond that would leave all behind at the first sign of hardship. Roaming the ruins of what used to be Orchestralia and feeding on the scrap of everyone else. And maybe they weren't wrong, but what else was he supposed to do?

Elestia would regularly attack small settlements. Even the ones lucky enough to have a wall could easily get wipe out when they attracted the attention of too many wind Elestia. Or when something strong enough to destroy walls came too close to town. Oliver had seen too many setttlements fall over the years, so many settlements claimed to be safe and said that their community could endure any harships. But in the end they fell like all the others.

So Oliver began to drift from town to town leaving when trouble started brewing or when people stopped giving him their leftovers. Everyday he dreamed of getting revenge on these damn monsters for taking the only family he had. But he knew it was just wishful thinking. He was just another orphan like many others wandering aimlessly in this broken world.

One day he decided to return to Melody Town. Over the years it had become one of his most reliable source of food and it also was one of the place that felt most like home. While most town simply tried to survive Melody Town was one of the last few settlement that clinged to the ideals of the old world. It was one of the last few towns that still had restaurants not only that but running water too. Not every towns could claim that.

But it had one problem, it was a town without a wall. Now this would be considered suicide to most town out there. But this town had a special piece of equipment that would create sound frequencies that would keep Elestia away. But he wondered how long this technology would last. And when it would inevitably fail the town would perish in a matter of hours. Many people have tried to convince the mayor to build a wall before it's too late. But the old man was an obstinate old coot and thought he would lose something valuable by building a wall like everyone else.

Oliver would normally steer clear of a ticking time bomb like this. But the town had something valuable to him that he couldn't pass on. There was an infamous restaurant here that gave away free food to poor kids like him. Sure the food they gave away were very close to their expiration date but he really couldn't look at a gifted horse in the mouth in his situation.

But as soon as he came close to town he could feel that something was wrong. There was the faint scent of burning iron that he became more or less accustomed to in the last few years. ''Damn, the Knights are here.'' He cursed under his breath before peeking from behind a wall at the busy streets.

Just as he had predicted they were there, The Knights of Humanity. Some saw them as saviors but most people thought of them as extremists. They wore large powerful armors that covered their entire body. It was by all definition a walking tank, it was completely imprevious to most man-made weapons and even from attacks of weaker Elestia. Two large strips of light ran from their head all the way to their toes each of the Knights had different color of light on their armor some were red, other were blue and other were green.

One of the Knights with red glowing stripe of lights on his armor dragged out a middle age man out in the streets with one hand. In the other hand he held what might looked like a normal brown rabbit to an untrained eyes. But the small antlers protruding from it's head and the predatory magenta eyes it had made Oliver recognise it for what it really was. ''An Elestia? Why did that man have that thing with him?'' Oliver asked to no one but himself.

''Cedric Romalos! You are declared guilty of treason for housing an enemy of humanity!'' The Knight with red stripes of light yelled for everyone to hear.

''No please don't hurt Irwin! He was only a pet I swear! I didn't use him for anything else!'' But his words fell on deaf ears. The Knight extended his right arm toward the Elestia. His hand started glowing with red energy before it formed into a fireball in the palm of his hand. The middle age man cried out in despair as the rabbit-like creature was engulfed into flames.

Then the Knight turned toward Cedric and threw another fireball at him. The man screamed in agony as fire devoured him. After only a few seconds there was nothing left of him but ashes on the ground. Seeing this Oliver decided to quietly take his leave before he could attract unwanted attention to himself. To a point he agreed with the Knights, someone had to deal with those damn monsters once and for all. But even he thought they were going too far. He didn't understand why anyone would want one of these beasts as pets. But the man had clearly not deserved to die just because of his unhealthy love for creatures that could kill him in an instant.

Oliver then came across a building he was very familiar with. Back in the days this place was just another restaurant from a big chain of fast food. Nowaday it was one of the only remaining place of it's kind. Most people would go throught the front door, but people like him had another place they go to.

The brown haired boy made his way toward one of the back door close to the dumpster and knocked loudly on the rusted metalic door. An old woman with many wrinkles opened up the door and sighed in annoyance when she saw who it was behind the door.

''Oliver Wilden, I thought I told you two months ago to not come back here. You're taking away the food for the kids who actually live here.'' She said with barely conceled contempt.

''Oh come on I told you I would only leave for a while and two months is quite a while wouldn't you agree? Beside you know I won't budge from here until I at least get something.'' He said with a challenging smirk.

The woman sighed in irritation. ''Fine I'll give you something, but after that you better get out of this town. If I gave food to any wandering kids that come to town I would go bankrupt.'' She closed the door behind herself loudly and Oliver had to wait a few minutes before she came back.

The woman opened the door and rudely shoved a poorly wrapped burger in the boy's hand. ''Now get out of here I don't want to see you again.'' She said angrily before slamming the door in his face.

Oliver groaned before walking away unwrapping and eating his burger while doing so. He ate the burger like a ravenous animal but once he was finished he grimaced. ''Ugh I'm pretty sure she gave me something that was past the expiration date, damn old witch.'' He muttered angrily under his breath.

''So where am I going next? Look like I'm not welcomed here anymore. Let's see Getaro has almost run out of ressources so it's not even worth thinking about. Accorda got overun by Earth Elestia last week so definetly not. Violina might be a good place but it's way too close to Boreas territory for my tastes... What about Bajoon? Sure they're a bunch of stuck up but I might work something with one of the local, Bajoon it is then.''

''Do you always talk to yourself?'' The voice made him jump in shock and when he turned around he saw a girl that looked around his age. She looked a lot more healthier than most kids on the streets so he assumed she wasn't homeless like him.

The girl was wearing a white hoodie and a pair of jeans. She had a brown pouch hanging from her side which looked suspiciously empty. She had a long blonde hair that swayed freely into the soft spring wind and her green eyes glinted like an emerald as the sun hit them just in the right angle. Her skin was pale, not in an unhealthy way but enough to make Oliver questioned if she was a shut-in.

''Well I'm the only person that like to hear the sound of my voice, so I might as well huh?'' He replied in a sarcastic way, the girl chuckled in response.

''So do you live here?'' She asked to him.

At this Oliver rose an eyebrow before pointing toward his old worn down shirt that had a hole on the left sleeve and his baggy shorts that was too big for him and only stayed in place thanks to the cord that were tightly attached around Oliver. ''Do I look like I live anywhere?'' He said gesturing to himself.

The girl slightly recoiled at the question before she developed a look of sadness. ''Oh I'm sorry... I know it might sound weird but can you tell me what year it is?''

Oliver looked at the girl with a confused expression. This girl was not normal, most people would look the other way when seeing him wandering in town. Not only that but she looked even more lost than him and that's saying something. ''Huh last time I check it was the year 2079, Why? Are you some sort of time traveler or something?''

At that the girl responded with a full blown chuckle. ''Ah I wish! No... I've just been out of civilisation for a long time.''

At that Oliver nodded in understanding. ''Yeah I know how that feel.'' The two of them stood there awkwardly for a while. Finally Oliver decided to break the silence. ''So anyway my name is Oliver Wilden, what's yours?'' He said while sticking out a hand for her to shake. The girl hesitantly reached for his hand before responding.

''Clara Ba- I mean Just Clara.'' She corrected herself quickly.

Oliver knew she was hiding something but he didn't really want to press for information. Everyone had something they'd rather not tell, especially these days. ''Well Clara, it was nice to meet you. But I have to start on my journey if I want to avoid sleeping in the forest, so see ya.'' But before he could leave the girl grabbed him by the arm. Oliver looked back at her with an unamused frown plastered on his face.

''Wait! I... Need your help with something.'' She said with a pleading look in her eyes.

Oliver sighed at that and shook his head. ''Look you're really pretty, but there's no way I'm helping a stranger out of nowhere like this.'' He proceeded to get his arm free and tried once again to walk away. but Clara quickly ran in front of him and stood her ground to block his route. Oliver sighed in annoyance. ''I told you I'm not helping you. The only reason a girl would ask for the help of someone like me would be because whatever you need is dangerous. There's no way I'm putting myself in danger for someone I just met.''

''I can make it worth your while.'' She said witha grin and Oliver raised an eyebrow.

''Look I might be a teenager but I'm not that desperate-'' He started to say in a insulted tone but the girl quickly shook her head and flailed her arms around in a panicked manner.

''No, not that! There's an amazing and rare treasures at the place I want to go to. Help me retrieve one specific thing from that place and all the rest can be your!'' She exclaimed while lifting both of her hands in the air for emphasis.

Oliver paused at that, the way she said that sounded like he could land a lot of money from this little mission. Sure it was still dangerous but it's not like he had much to lose anymore so might as well risk it all for a chance to get out of this hole right? Oliver sighed.''Fine but if you're lying to me you won't live long enough to regret it.''

Clara shook her head and smiled confidently. ''I'm not lying, you won't regret coming with me.''

The brown haired boy crossed his arms. ''Alright then, lead the way.'' Both of them started walking further into the town. No one bothered them as they entered inside the alleys. They continued to walk for almost half an hour until they reached the rundown part of town. Then they stopped in front of an old abandoned factory that had clearly been used as makeshift base after the fall of civilisation. A lot of windows had been broken. The ones close to the ground had been close off by planks of woods. The windows on upper floor had been left untouched. The previous owners probably assumed no one would bother to climb the building. The doors had been locked with old rusty padlocks and all over the wall there were warnings in red paint that promised death to anyone that dared enter inside the building.

''So this is the place?'' Oliver asked calmly, death threaths was nothing new to him and the place didn't look that threathening compared to some place he had snuck into.

''Yes, but be careful this might not look like it but this place once belonged to very dangerous people.'' She said with a frown on her face.

As they approached the locked door Oliver scratched his chin. ''Maybe there's something we can use to break this thing, wait here while I look around.'' But just as he turned around he heard the sound of something snapping. Looking back he saw that Clara had somehow managed to snap the padlock in half. ''What? How did you do that?''

She shrugged with an innocent look in her eyes. ''I have my ways.''

Oliver rolled his eyes and huffed at her. ''Whatever let's get this over with.'' He said before kicking the door opened. The building interior was really dark. But there was just enough sunlight filtering throught the broken windows and the gaping hole in the ceiling for them to see where they were going. Clara led him to a door that led downstair. Oliver almost triped more than once due to the lack of light. But they managed to make their way in the basement without too much problems.

Surprisingly the basement was more illuminated than the first floor. Some complicated contraciptions lined up the walls. Some of them were still active, even if the place looked like it had been abandoned a long time ago.

''So what are we looking for exactly?'' Oliver asked but Clara just walked away instead of responding to him. ''Fine, I guess I don't need to know.'' He muttered under his breath before following her.

They soon came in front of a metalic door. The girl turned toward Oliver. ''I guess I should have asked this before, but you know how to unlock a door with a bobby pin right?''

Oliver rosed an eyebrow. ''So that's what you needed my help with?'' He asked incrediously.

''Well yes and no, there's actually a much more important reason why you're here. But I don't really know how to unlock door myself, so I was kind of hoping you could.'' Clara said while rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

''Well yeah I wouldn't have survived this long if I didn't know how to unlock a door or two. Unfortunately I'm all out of bobby pins right now.'' He said while crossing his arms.

At that the girl smiled proudly before retreving something from the pouch hanging on the side of her waist. ''Here you can have one of mine.''

Oliver quickly went to work on the door it took him about two minutes before the door finally gave a soft click and he gently pushed the door open. The first thing that struck him was the eery green light pouring out of the room. There was also many smells wafting out from it. The more prominent one was the smell of stale air, there was also a smell of sterilization but it was very faint. As if the room hadn't been sterlized in a long time. There was also a third smell that Oliver couldn't really describe but it was very strange and alien to him. As soon as he stepped inside he froze in shock.

The room was massive and it was filled with rows and rows of strange pods lining up the walls. Inside the pods was a strange green glowing substance. Even more surprising were the creatures of all shape and size all sleeping inside of them. One of the pods that immediatly caught his attention looked like it had exploded from the inside and there was dried up goo laying in front of it.

''What the hell is this?! I thought this was some random bandits hideout, but this is creepy as hell!'' Oliver exclaimed in shock.

Clara sighed at that. ''I guess it was not realistic to think you wouldn't catch on. Yes this use to be a base for the CGO, but they abandoned it after the Knights became more active in the area.''

He looked at her in disbelief. ''Wait, the Cult of The Great Ones has technology like this? I thought they were just a bunch of lunatics hiding in a hole somewhere.''

Clara laughed hollowly at that and shook her head which made her blonde hair wave gently in the air. ''Oh if only that was true. But we have lost enough time, come with me.'' Oliver groaned in annoyance as the girl briskly walked away from him. Not even waiting for him to catch up for one second. She stopped once they came in front of a faintly glowing terminal. ''This is it, this is the reason why I bought you here.''

He looked at the machine with an apprehensive expression. ''What? Are you expecting me to hack this? I'm really not familiar with computers. There's not much of them left since the Elestia fucked up the entire world.''

Clara shook her head in response. ''No I just want you to use the terminal to release something important to me. It's very simple even an idiot could do it.''

Oliver looked at her with a unamused expression. ''if it's so simple why did you drag me here? You could have done this yourself.'' She sighed at that before approaching the terminal. But before she could lay a hand on it a small jolt of electricity shocked her hand away. She yelped and covered her hurted hand with her fingers.

Oliver immediatly ran up to her side and looked at her with a concerned look. ''What the hell was that?! is your hand okay?''

Clara hissed in pain for a few seconds before nodding with an angry expression. ''This terminal was made so only certain types of people could use it.'' She said in a clearly bitter tone.

''And what make you think I'm one of those people?'' Oliver asked curiously.

''Believe me, I'm certain you will be able to use the terminal, now do it.'' She said with an impatient frown on her face.

Oliver groaned in annoyance. ''Fine, but you said this was gonna be worth my while. All I'm seeing now is a bunch of monsters being imprisoned right where they belong.''

Clara gave him a dirty expression, her green eyes lighting up with a dangerous fire. ''Your apparent dislike for Elestia is noted. But there is something in here that I promise will be very useful to you.''

He shrugged at this and relaxed a little bit. ''Fine whatever, but if you try to double-cross me I might just take what you came here for instead.'' Clara snorted at that but said nothing more. Oliver sat on the chair in front of the terminal and saw many icons pop up on the screen.

''Okay now you should open something called P-forty-five, do you see it?'' Clar asked eagerly.

Oliver looked at the screen before he remembered something very important. ''Umm, I know that's gonna sound dumb... But I don't know how to read.'' He said with a sheepish expression.

Clara slapped her forehead in frustration. ''Are you serious?! How the heck do you not know how to read at your age?!'' She asked incrediously.

''Hey! It's not like there's that many school left in this world and most of them cost a fortune to attend to! Beside you never told me I would need to read to help you with this thing!'' He replied defensively.

Clara sighed before stepping behind him. ''Fine, I guess I'll just have to tell you what to do. First you must click on this and then you'll see many numbers pop up, click on this one.'' And with a final push of the button they could hear a faint hissing coming from further away as well as the alien smell from earlier becoming stronger.

As soon as she heard the sound Clara started running without any hesitation. ''H-hey wait for me!'' Oliver yelled before running at full speed toward the fleeing blonde girl. Once he catched up to her he almost fell down on the floor as his foot slipped on a green liquid that covered a large part of the floor. Oliver recoiled in disgust as he stare down at the mysterious liquid. ''What the hell is this?''

Meanwhile Clara was too busy to take notice of Oliver's predicament. Instead she was solely focus on a being that was slowly waking up from it's slumber. ''Marie! Are you okay?'' The being apparently known as Marie slowly opened up her eyes and let out a small squeaking sound.

''Oh Marie! I'm so glad you're okay! I'm sorry I had to leave without you, but I'm here now! But I bet that from your perspective it hasn't been that long huh?'' She said with a small laugh.

He finally took notice of who she was talking to and he immediatly regretted coming to this little expedition. The being in question looked like a white mouse with hazel brown eyes. But this mouse was a bit bigger than normal members of it's species, easily about the size of a kitten. The most surprising thing about the being however was the fact that it had wings and not leather wings like one would expect from a rodent, but feathered wings like a bird.

''Are you kidding me?!'' Oliver roared angrily. ''You're telling me we went throught all this trouble just so you could save some damn Elestia?! You should have let it rot here where it belong!''

Clara glared icily back at him. ''Stop shouting! You're scaring Marie!'' She yelled at him with narrowed eyes.

Oliver laughed in pure disbelief. ''And you arleady gave it a name as well. That's it I'm getting out of here, there's no way in hell I'm hanging out with a lover of these damn monsters.'' He was about to storm off and leave her alone with the Elestia. But just before he could cross the doorframe her voice stopped him.

''Fine you can leave, but if you do you'll miss out on the reward for helping me.'' She said in a smug tone.

That immediatly caught his attention. ''Wait, so you were serious about that? I was begining to think you scammed me.'' He said to her.

Clara looked offended at the accusation. ''You can think what you want of me, but I'm a woman of my words. Come with me I will show you something precious I found last time I was here.'' Oliver was reluctant to follow her especially when he saw her delicately putting the Elestia in her pouch. The small mouse-like creature poke out it's head from the pouch and squeaked furiously at Oliver.

But in the end he couldn't resist the promise of treasures and so he followed Clara deeper into the hideout. They stepped inside what looked like an office room filled to the brims with all sort of papers. Oliver couldn't begin to guess why someone would need so many of them. At the back of the room he could see a balding man with thick glasses hanging out with someone Oliver knew very well.

''Professor Dogwood? Why does these crazy people have a picture of a respectable man like him?'' He asked with a perplexed expression.

Clara didn't respond to his question instead she walked toward a rug in the middle of the room and tossed it aside, revealing a small trap door in the floor. Opening it up revealed a small wooden box she took it and presented it at Oliver. ''Here it is, these will be very useful whether you use them or sell them at a very high price. If you do end up selling them try to give them to people who wont's misuse them alright?''

Curious Oliver opened up the box and he lost his breath, both from wonder and horror at what was inside. ''Are those what I think it is?'' He asked arleady knowing the answer not not wanting to believe it.

Clara nodded with a grin litting up her face. Inside the box were eight precious gems, all of similar shape but all of them were of a different colors. From left to right there was icy blue, red, navy blue, green, yellow, brown, purple and finally black. ''Draconid Gems, like I said it will be very useful to you whether you use them or sell them.'' She said in a proud tone.

Oliver looked at her with an offended expression. ''There's no way I'm using one of these things.''

She shrugged and rolled her eyes at him. ''That's your loss, but I'm sure you can make a small fortune if you sell them somewhere where they're in high demand. Like the Ding Dong Community for example.''

Oliver sighed he really didn't want to risk to go to that forsaken place. But she was right, if he sold them these things, he wouldn't need to worry for food for a year at least. ''Well I guess it was worth it in the end. Money is money after all, even if it does end up helping those monsters lovers.'' He said in clear distaste. Clara shook her head in annoyance before walking away. Oliver followed her, they walked in silence almost all the way throught.

Clara stopped once she noticed the still lit up terminal from earlier. ''We should turn off the terminal. if the CGO come back here they might get suspicious if they see it still open.'' She said to him.

Oliver grunted in response before making his way toward the worn down machine, ''So I press the red button to turn it off right?''

Clara eyes widened in horror at that. ''No wait!'' But it was too late with a press of a button the lights all turned red and a loud blaring sound filled the entire hideout.

''W-what's happening?'' Oliver asked fearfully. The Elestia in the girl's pouch began to squeak in a high pitch tone.

Clara turned toward him her face drained of all color. ''Run!''


	3. Unlikely Allies

''Run!'' 

As soon as the word left Clara's mouth, Oliver ran like a bolt of lightning. He did not survive this long by being slow on the uptake. Behind him he could hear the sound of several dozens glasses breaking into pieces. He did not waste time to look back to see what had caused the sound, he only ran with Clara in tow.

They soon found the exit of the hideout and slammed the door behind themselves. ''You idiot! Why did you press the button to release all of them?!'' Clara yelled angrily.

''I throught the red button would shut down the terminal!'' Oliver replied defensively.

''Well clearly, it didn't!'' She replied angrily. Their argument was interupted by the sound of explosion. A few meters away from them they saw the wall crumbling to gravel. A bipedal feline creature with a mane made out of pure fire, with muscles that would put many heavy weight lifters to shame stood there with a still burning fist. ''Crap! let's go we can't stay here!'' More than happy to follow her instruction Oliver began to sprint once again as fast as his legs could carry him.

''Crap, crap, crap! I knew I should have never have come here!'' Oliver yelled over the wind, in the distance they could hear the sound of other part of the wall breaking down as more and more creatures of all shape and size came pouring out of the abandoned building.

The sound eventually attracted the attention of the Knights of Humanity. They were in for a surprise when they arrived at the scene and saw the horde of Elestia filling the entire street. Many of them began to panic and were about to flee away. But just before they could descend into chaos an authoritative voice yelled loudly for everyone to hear.

''Men take battle formation! All of you have signed up to erradicate these demons off the face of the Earth! Now is the perfect chance to show the world what you are made of! We will protect this town and ensure the survival of humanity!''

''The Dragons shall fall so that humanity may rise!'' All the men and woman in armor yelled proudly before charging into the fray their armor ligthing up with etheral energy. The leader of the group took a stand in front of everyone and shot a large fireball toward the aproaching horde of Elestia. Many of the creature caught fire and died in a matter of seconds. The other Knight's moral rose at the display of power of their leader and began to attack the Elestia too. A barrage of lightning, water, ice, wind and other elements was sent toward the oncoming Elestia sending them to their doom.

But even with the effort of the Knights many creatures managed to rescape into town. One in particular was dead set on following a certain fleeing duo. ''Is he still following us?!'' Oliver asked in panic. 

Clara took a small peak behind herself and saw the same feline creature running at them at high speed. ''Yes!'' She replied before gaining a boost of speed. Their chase eventually led them to the more busy district. Most passerby looked at them weirdly as they saw them sprinting like mad people. But all of them scattered in panic when they saw the flaming monster following them closely behind.

The Elestia tried to throw fireballs at the two of them. They managed to narrowly dodged them. Unfortunately the fast food restaurant was caught in the crossfire. one of the wall had collapse at the impact and the rooftop caught fire. ''Well I guess I can say goodbye to my free meals... Not that they were good.'' Oliver said under his breath.

Eventually they managed to leave the town behind. They tried to lose the Fire Elestia into the lush forest surrounding the settlement. Unfortunately in their haste they failed to notice a crevice in front of them and both of them screamed as they fell down the hole. They landed on the ground with a loud thud and groaned in pain.

Both of them became silent however when they began to hear the sound of footsteps. They tried to stay as silent as possible as the same creature that was running after them was looking everywhere around the forest. The Elestia growled menacingly as it sniffed around trying to find trace of Oliver and Clara. Eventually it grew bored and left the two teenagers alone.

After making sure it was gone for good Oliver sighed in relief. ''I hate Elestia the world would be such a better place without them.'' As soon as he finished saying those word he was bombarded by a series of squeak coming from Clara's pouch. The girl chuckled and turned toward him with a smirk.

''I think you offended her, you should say sorry.'' She said before presenting the feathered mouse to Oliver.

He grimaced as he looked down at the creature. ''Keep that thing away from me! It might look innocent now but it could kill us in a matter of seconds!'' He said while backing away from her. Clara rolled her eyes, but she nonetheless put Marie back in her pouch.

They managed to get out of the crevice with surprising ease and once they brushed away the dirt on their clothes they looked back at each other awkwardly not really knowing what to say. Oliver was the first to break the silence. ''Well then, I guess this is goodbye you got your... Friend.'' He stated with much distaste. ''And I got something really valuable in return.'' He said while pointing at his backpack containing the Draconid Gems. ''See ya, I doubt we'll see each other again but if we do I guess I wouldn't mind talking once again, that is if you keep that thing away from me.''

But before he could leave he heard the sound of a twig breaking followed by rapids footsteps coming their way. much to their horror they saw that the feline creature had come back and he looked even more angry than before.

''Crap, run!'' He yelled to Clara. But before he could even begin to move the creature threw a fireball in his direction. Oliver saw his entire life flashing before his eyes as he saw the huge orb of fire approaching him. But something he never thought would happened occured in front of him. A bush of rose sprung up from the ground as if by magic. The fireball hit the bush and instantly burned it to ashes but it was enough to stopped the fire in it's track.

Oliver then heard a cry coming up from further away and a small being ran in front of him. It looked like a small baby deer. But Oliver instantly knew it was not really a deer. Normal deers did not have manes, much less ones made out of grass and flower buds. It's tail also was made of plants. It's legs were much bigger than the ones of a normal baby deer would have and it had much less difficulty to walk than a normal fawn would at that age. 

''A-are you protecting me?'' He asked in shocked voice, much to his surprise the Elestia responded with a nod of it's head. ''But why? Elestia and humans are enemies!''

''That's not true!'' The voice of Clara shouted behind him. ''You're the one that see them as nothing but monsters!!'' She said in a bitter tone.

Oliver looked at her with an angry look. ''How can you say they're not our enemies?! They destroyed everything we had!'' He shouted back.

Clara shook her head and crossed her arms. ''You're blaming all of the Elestia, but the only real enemies are the Dragons. You should turn your anger toward them, without them in the way I'm sure we could find a way to live with the Elestia in peace.''

Oliver clenched his fist and his eyes narrowed. ''The Dragons...'' He still could vividly remember the day he lost everything at the hands of Boreas, The Winter Dragon. Everyday he dreamed of killing that monster. But every time he would do a reality check and realise there's nothing he could do against such a being. But could Clara be right? Could things return to normal without the Dragons? He used to want all Elestia dead but it seemed more and more unrealistic with each passing days. While killing the Dragons was also pretty far-fetched, it was still a bit more realistic than killing the billions of creatures that had invaded their world and replaced the entire ecosystem of their planet.

But now was not the time to daydream about such an unrealistic goal. Right now he should focus on surviving against the Elestia that was attacking them right now. The flamming beast came rushing toward them snarling at Oliver. but before he could reach them the deer-like creature stepped in front of it and trapped the fire creature into a vine that came sprouting out of the ground.

Unfortunately the Fire Elestia quickly burned off the vine and turned angrily toward the young Elestia protecting the boy. The smaller Elestia wasn't quick enough to dodge the oncoming kick coming from the large feline. She was sent flying in the air before impacting the trunk of the tree splintering some of the wood in the process.

The poor Elestia cried out in pain and fell down on the ground. While watching the flaming monster approaching his defenseless protector Oliver did something he never thought he would ever do. He decided to help an Elestia, Oliver picked up a rock from the ground and proceeded to throw it with all his strenght toward the feline monster.

The rock impacted unto the massive Elestia. It didn't do much more than a scratch on his head but it was enough to make him change of target. Oliver instantly realised his mistake as a flaming bipedal lion twice his size came running straight at him. He knew there was no point to run the creature was too quick. Oliver closed his eyes hoping for a quick death, but the killing blow never came.

Opening his eyes Oliver noticed that the feline Elestia was enveloped into a dark blue aura. It began to trash into the air trying to dislodge itself from the ethereal force, but to no avail. Oliver was confused at what was happening but could only watch as the scene unfolded. The feline was then brutally slammed onto the ground repeatedly until it stopped struglling and went limp. Finally the aura dissapeared and returned to it's owner. It's owner which happened to be the same girl he had spent the entire day with.

Oliver was shocked to say the least. ''W-what the heck was that?! Are you some sort of witch or something?!''

But before she could respond Clara feel down on her knee with a dazed look in her eyes. He instantly ran up to her side concern evident in his eyes.

Clara shook her head and tried to smile reassuringly toward him. ''Don't worry about me, I'm still not used to using this. So that took a lot out of me.''

''What was that?'' He asked really wanting to know how a human could do that.

Clara shook her head and pointed in the direction of the deer-like Elestia. ''I'll tell you another time for now you have more pressing matter to attend to. The Elestia that saved you... I can feel that she's really in a bad shape. If you don't do anything she will most likely die here. I can feel her life force fading away.'' 

Oliver looked concerned at that. ''What do you want me to do? I'm not a doctor or anything like that.'' He said with a frown plastered on his face.

Clara shook her head and pointed toward the boy's backpack. ''Your Draconid Gems, it has the power to heal almost any injuries a Elestia substained. if you use one of them you will save her life.''

Oliver eyes widened and he back away with a panicked expression. ''What?! Use a Draconid Gem?! But... If I do that I would become a Chosen! There's no coming back from that!''

Clara glared at him and then she looked back toward the faintly breathing Elestia. ''Would you prefer letting the one that risked her life for you die here like this? Is that how you treat the people who are ready to risk their life for you?'' She asked in judgemental tone.

For a second Oliver thought back on that day ten years ago when his father sacrificed himself so he could live. Then he remembered the Elestia when she had jump in front of him to confront the feline monster. He realised that at that moment the Elestia had the exact same determined look in her eyes that he saw in his father.

Oliver sighed he never thought something like this would happen, but here he was about to throw everything away for a creature he didn't even know. Chosens were one of the most hated type of people in the New World, many people saw them as traitors of mankind. If words spreaded around that he had become one he would become an outcast in more than half of the settlements in the country. But as he approached the deer-like creature she faintly opened her eyes and for a moment Oliver could almost see her begging for mercy.

Gritting his teeth he retrieved the small wooden box and opened it. Taking a deep breath he took the brown gem and gently press it on the forehead of the Elestia. And then everything turned white around him.

\- - - - - 

When he regained his senses Oliver looked around and looked in awe and confusion at the scene before him. He was in another forest but this forest was vastly different than the one he had just left. The grass was a gorgeous but very strange blue shade, the night sky above him twinkled with many stars he had never seen before. The sky was illuminated by three moons of three different sizes and the sky itself held a purple color that made it seem much more bright than a night sky should be.

All around him he could hear the sound of nature but it was not a wildlife that he was used to. The sound the insects of the forest made were completely alien to him, but still somehow felt recomforting and peaceful. The trees if you could even call it that were made out of a strange sponge-like texture and the white leaves of the trees almost reminded him of snow.

But before he could observe more of this strange new place a familiar creature slowly walked toward him, it was the same Elestia that had saved him earlier. Oliver was relieved at seeing her. ''You're okay! I'm glad, I'm still not sure if I trust Elestia after everything that happened. But you risked your life for me and for that I'm extremely grateful.''

''Thank you... Oliver is it?'' He heard a small voice say in his head.

''Who said that?!'' He shouted while looking all around him.

''Down there.'' The female voice said to him.

Oliver looked down at the Elestia in front of him in shock. ''Y-you can talk?!'' He shouted at her.

The flowered mane Elestia tilted her head curiously. ''We always talk, it's just that humans don't understand the same language as us. But this place is special, it allow us to talk despite our difference in species. But once you leave you will lose the ability to understand me.'' She said in response.

''So this is the power of a Draconid Gem... But what is this forest? I never saw something like this!'' Oliver said while looking around the strange forest once again.

''This place is a replica of my home before the Dragons dragged us all into your world.'' She said with an underlying sadness in her tone. 

Hearing this Oliver looked at the forest in a new light. ''So this is what your home was like huh? So I'm basically standing in an alien world right now. No wonder so many people are ready to pay a small fortune for these gems!'' He said with child-like excitement.

The Elestia closed her eyes and let out a breath before speaking. ''I would show you around but I'm still tired after that fight. Now to seal the pact you have to name me, once it is done you will become my new master.'' She opened her eyes as she finished talking.

Oliver looked at her with a confused look. ''What do you mean by that?''

She titled her head again for a few second before explaining. ''Before today my master was Gaia the Dragon of the Earth. But once you name me my pact with Gaia will end and I will serve you instead.'' 

Oliver looked uncomfortable at the idea. ''I don't want to be your master.''

The Elestia looked crestfallen at that. ''You don't? So are you saying that you reject me?''

The poor creature sounded so sad Oliver felt obligated to recomfort it. ''No! Not at all! How about instead of master and servant we simply become friends?''

The deer-like creature seemed deep in thought. ''I guess if that's what you want I'm okay with it, but I really don't see why calling you master would be so bad. That's what we Elestia have been calling the ones that provide us with power for time immemorial. Yet for some reason you don't seem to understand that tradition at all, Humans really can be strange creatures sometime. So did you think of a name for me?''

He scratched his chin form a few seconds. ''Well... How about Sandy? My mother alway said that was the name she would have given me if I had been born a girl.''

The Earth Elestia tilted her head and hummed gently before nodding rapidly. ''I like it, Sandy! From now on I will protect you until my last breath master Oliver.''

''I told you to not call me a master!'' He shouted indignatly.

''Umm friend Oliver?'' Sandy asked in an unsure voice.

He sighed and shook his head in exasperation. ''I guess that's a start.'' But before they could continue their conversation the world lit up around Oliver until he could see nothing else but the color white surrounding him...

\- - - - -

Once the light disappeared he was back in the forest back on Earth. He was still holding the Draconid Gem in his hand. He looked behind himself and saw that Clara was now back on her feet but she still looked tired. ''Have I been gone for a long time?'' 

The girl shook her head. ''You've been staring blankly at the gem for about five seconds before you returned to your senses.''

Oliver looked down at the Draconid Gem in confusion. ''I'm sure I was in there for much longer than that.'' In the corner of his eyes Oliver noticed that Clara was smugly smirking at him. ''What are you smilling about?'' He asked with narrowed eyes.

''You said you hated Elestia but as soon as one of them helped you, you completely changed of attitude.'' She said in a smug voice.

Oliver scoffed at her. ''Don't think I love these monsters just because of this. Most Elestia are still bloodthirsty demons. I only made an exception for this one so I wouldn't owe her anything.'' With that Oliver left with a huff.

Clara looked down as she heard the sound of soft chittering coming from her pouch. ''Don't worry Marie, one step at a time I'm sure he's gonna warm up to Elestia eventually. Now that he's a Chosen he's going to see them for what they really are and not what he think they are.'' She was responded by more chittering. Clara looked down on the still unconscious form of the Elestia who had attacked them earlier. ''I guess we should go too before he decide to wake up.'' She was met with a squeak by her suggestion. The blonde girl decided to follow the retreating form of the boy.

She could have decided to leave him right there. After all she got everything she needed from him. But there was something about him that intrigued her. There had been a certain kindness in his eyes when he had looked at the injured Elestia on the ground. Not many people in this world could still feel empathy for others, especially for non-humans.

But he was misguided, he believed every Elestia was the enemies when only a few of them were the problem. She wanted to make sure he knew who to fight against because otherwise she felt like this kindness she had briefly saw in him would completely vanish under his hardening heart. 

\- - - - -

When they arrived back in town Oliver winced as he saw the damage the Elestia that escaped the hideout had done. Many houses had crumbled or caught fire and now people were running around trying to limit the damages done to the town.

Oliver turned to glare toward Clara. ''You still think Elestia are not evil after seeing this? These people have done nothing to deserve this and these monsters destroyed their homes without a single thought.''

Clara glared back at him. ''This is all your fault you know, you're the one that released all of them from their sleep. You should never carelessly press a button if you don't know what it does, especially in a CGO hideout!''

''So you agree that the Elestia are evil.'' Oliver said with a smug expression.

Clara looked at him with a irritated expression. ''They're not evil! Look I won't say Elestia can't do bad things because that would be a lie.''

''Damn right.'' Oliver replied while crossing his arms.

The girl rolled her eyes at him before continuing. ''But that doesn't mean they're evil. Look at it this way wolves used to be one of the worst enemies of humanity a long time ago. But some early humans decided to use their help while hunting. That alliance ended up creating dogs which became humanity greatest allies. I believe the same thing could hapen with the Elestia if we just gave them a chance.''

''I would prefer to see all of them dead.'' Oliver said harshly making the girl recoiled slightly and a small squeak of fear emerged from Clara's pouch.

''You're impossible! Fine let's assume you kill all the Elestia by some miracle. Then what? By this point they have replaced the vast majority of Earth's ecosystem. The only remaining animals in the world still exist only because of humans efforts. This new ecosystem will crumble if you commit genocide on all the Elestia and then humanity will go with them.''

Oliver didn't know how to reply to that so instead he snorted and walked away. Clara sighed in frustration but decided to follow him before he did something reckless. As they walked throught down they saw a group of kids with torned up clothes taking advantage of the crisis to enter houses and loot them of all their food.

Clara was about to stop them but was quickly stopped by Oliver. ''Look at these houses this is the rich part of town.'' The blonde girl looked around and saw that he was right the houses here were in much better conditions than most building she had seen since the Invasion. The lawn was trimmed to perfection and the grass was a vibrant green and she could see that some houses even had a small garden with flowers and vegetables. The walls of the houses didn't have any dirt or grime on them. Some houses had fences to keep out the riff raff from their property and she even saw one house that had a door with a golden doorknob on it. All in all these houses reminded her of what houses used to look like before the Invasion.

''The people in these houses can afford to lose some food it will barely make a dent in their savings. These kids however won't survive for long if you stop them right now.'' Clara had a conflicted expression on her face at that revelation, reluctantly she decided to let them go.

''So where are you going exactly? I though you were about to leave this town before you decided to help me.'' She said with an raised eyebrow.

Just as Oliver was about to respond a loud shrill screamed tore throught the town. Without thinking both of them went running toward the commotion. When they arrived they saw that the old lady from the local restaurant was being pursued by a small creature unlike anything Oliver ever saw. It took the shape of a butterfly but it was not made of flesh and blood. Instead the insect looked like it was made of crystalized ice and it's eyes were glowing with an otherworldly pale blue color. Each flap of it's wings spreaded a thin layer of snow everywhere it went. 

To someone else the creature might have seem harmless but Oliver knew that Elestia could be a lot stronger than they look. He hesitated on what to do. On one hand the old witch had gave him almost rotten food earlier, but she was also one of the only people that had bothered feeding him. With a resigned sighed he took the brown Draconid Gem in his hand and pointed it toward the Ice Elestia. He looked down at the gem in confusion when nothing happened. ''Umm how am I supposed to summon her?'' He asked Clara with a sheepish expression. 

Clara facepalmed but then she looked back at him to explain. ''It's simple all you have to do is call out the name of your Elestia and she will come out. But are you sure you should summon her right now? She might not be completely healed yet.'' She said with concern clear in her voice.

''I'm sure it's going to be okay, that Elestia don't look too strong and it's not like I have any other option. Unless you want to use those freaky powers from earlier.'' He said with a raised eyebrow.

At that Clara looked down and nervously fiddle with her hands. Taking that as a no Oliver pointed the gem toward the Ice Elestia and called out his new friend's name.

''Come out Sandy!'' As soon as the words left his mouth a brown beam of energy emerged from the gem and took up the form of the familiar fawn. ''Alright Sandy stop that Elestia from attacking the old lady!'' Sandy responded with a cry before charging toward the frozen butterfly.

When she came close to the to the insect she stomped on the ground and three vines emerged from the dirt and grabbed the attacking Elestia. ''Alright now slam it to the ground!'' Sandy did as ordered and slammed the small butterfly on the ground with a loud thud. Even thought the Elestia looked like it was made of thin ice the impact barely made a dent on it's body but it was still dazed from the hit. ''Again!'' He yelled, once again the small insect was slammed on the ground and this time it fell unconscious. Oliver was about to order Sandy to finish it off but Clara stopped him.

''Stop! You don't need to kill it, once we leave it in the wild it will understand that humans settlements are off limits after this.'' Oliver sighed he was tempted to not listen to her and kill the damn monster anyway. But for some reasons he didn't want to disappoint Clara and he didn't really knew why.

''Fine but if it does come back I won't stop next time.'' Oliver ordered Sandy to release the Ice Elestia and she did without complaint. After she was done Oliver could see that the fawn was panting heavily and she had trouble on standing on one of her legs.

''Return Sandy! I'm sorry I had to call you out so soon after your last battle.'' The Earth Elestia was called back in her gem and he smiled at it for a well done job. But his smile turned into a frown once he saw Clara smugly smilling at him. ''What?'' He asked with narrowed eyes.

''You arleady fell in love with your Elestia admit it. Even you couldn't resist their charm for long.'' 

Oliver snorted at that. ''You're imagining things.'' 

Clara crossed her arms, her smirk still in place. ''I don't think I am.'' She said to him.

Before he could reply they heard two pairs of loud metallic footsteps coming toward them. Without them noticing the old lady had ran away as soon as he had sent Sandy to battle the Ice Elestia and now she was pointing at them with an angry scowl. ''It's him! He's a damn Chosen! I saw him use an Elestia!'' The two Knights behind her instantly lifted their arms toward the Oliver and the palm of their hands glowed with ethereal energy.

''Crap! I knew I shouldn't have trusted that old witch!'' Without hesitation Oliver started to run just in time to dodge a bolt of lightning and a fireball that was sent toward him. He quickly hid behind a wall and saw that Clara was beside him. ''Why are you here?! It's me they're after!''

''You won't get rid of me that easily. Beside I don't really have anywhere else to go.'' Before they could continue their argument another bolt of lightning came and destroyed the wall they were hiding behind.

''We shouldn't stay here come on!'' Oliver exclaimed. Both of them start running once again expertly dodging everything the Knights could dish at them. They managed to lose them by going in the Main Street. The road was filled with rubbles and the dead bodies of Elestia that were killed by the Knights earlier that day, they had to jump over many of them as they ran away from their attackers. 

But fortunately for them the Knights could not follow them with their big clunky armors and they managed to run back into the forest. They stopped once they found a small cave they could hide into. ''Oh crap now the entire world will know I'm a Chosen. I should have never saved that Elestia.'' He muttered bitterly under his breath.

''You don't mean that and I know it.'' Clara said with a frown.

''You don't know anything about me stop pretending that you do! I hate Elestia they took away everything I cared about! And now they took away my only reliable source of food too! These damn things won't stop until I'm dead!'' He shouted back at her, he was breathing heavily once he was done with his tirade.

Clara sighed and then turned her gaze toward her pouch. She retrieved the small feathered mouse from it and smiled at her. ''Marie fly into the sky and warn us if you see any Knights approaching our hiding spot.'' The small Elestia made a squeak of affirmation before extending her wings and taking off into the air.

Oliver sighed as he watched the mouse disappeared above the cloud. Clara turned toward him with a worried expression. ''Hey are you okay? Do you know where to go after this?'' She asked him with a frown.

Oliver chuckled dryly at that. ''Where do you want me to go? I'm an outcast now. I have nowhere to go. ''

Clara rosed an eyebrow at that. ''Didn't you say you were going at Bajoon? If I remember correctly from what I read they even have Chosens there.''

Oliver chuckled bitterly at that. ''Bajoon? Forget it, they will kick us out as soon as they see we have Elestia. There's only one Chosen protecting the town and they make him live outside the wall because they don't want him inside the town. Most other places threat Chosens even worse than that. Most would call the Knights as soon as they saw us.'' He said in a bitter tone.

Clara seemed thoughtful at that, then her eyes lit up and she smiled toward Oliver. ''What about the Ding Dong community?'' She asked hopefully.

At that Oliver instantly groaned. ''I've never wanted to see these damn Elestia lovers and I still don't want to meet them now.'' He said stubbornly.

Clara rolled her eyes in exasperation. ''Oh come on, what other option do you have? Beside you're a Elestia lover yourself now.'' She said the last part with a smirk.

''No I'm not!'' He replied angrily but then he sighed and looked down on the ground. ''But you're right, I don't really have any other options left unless I become a really good Elestia hunter and make a good income by killing Elestia by myself. But even I know I'm nowhere near experienced enough to become a good hunter. Not only that but Sandy is way too young to kill most Elestia right now it will take a lot of training for her to take serious threats. Basically I really don't know enough about being a Chosen to realistically make it out there at the moment.''

''So?'' Clara asked in anticipation.

Oliver sighed and looked back at her with a resigned look. ''We're starting our journey to the Ding Dong Community tomorrow. For now we should rest, it should take between two to three days to make our way there.'' He said before taking out his sleeping bag from his backpack and laid on it for the night. Clara didn't have a sleeping bag on her but she made do with a pile of leaves that she collected from outside. Oliver felt kind of bad for sleeping more comfortably than her but at the same time he didn't feel like he should deprive himself just because he was more prepared than her.

He wondered once again what was her story. She didn't look like she struggled as much as most people since the Invasion, she looked way too clean to be homeless. And yet she was acting as if she had nowhere else to go. Maybe she had lost her home only recently? It wasn't that uncommon to see small settlements being wiped out by a horde of hungry Elestia, maybe that's what happened to her.

Fortunately the Knights did not come close to their hiding spot that night. Maybe they saw him as a low threat since he only had a young Elestia with him. But that didn't mean they should be careless, if they had the chance the Knights would kill them without any hesitation.

As they drifted to sleep Oliver felt hopeful which confused him. Why did he feel hopeful when he had just lost everything? But then he realised this was the first time he actually had a goal since the Invasion. For the first time he would do something more than just aimlessly wander the ruins of Orchestralia. Maybe he would end up dead before he could even reach his destination. But then again everyday he risked his life just for scraps of food. Now he could actually be part of something bigger. Maybe not something he agreed with completely but it was better than the life he had right now.

As the last shred of consciousness left him he thought back on his childhood when everything was perfect. When his mother and father were still alive. He wondered what they would think of him now, after all he had done to survive...


	4. Their World

Oliver was standing behind a tree. Observing the bird-like Elestia that was in the middle of drinking water at the river. Seeing that the Elestia had not noticed him he enacted his plan. With all his might he threw the brown Draconid Gem in the air and watched as it flew in an arc.

When it came close enough to the wild Elestia he yelled. ''Sandy come out!'' The gem stopped in mid-air and let out a beam of brown energy unto the ground. The energy shifted and took the form of a young fawn. After a full night of sleep inside her gem the Elestia had completely healed from her encounter with the fire lion from yesterday. ''Kill that bird as quickly as you can!'' 

Sandy proceeded to summon a single vine from the dirt and it latched unto the Elestia before it had time to fly off. She then used the vine and slammed the bird against the trunk of a tree. The bird died on impact with a crunch and Sandy released the dead body on the ground. Oliver winced when he saw that the impact had created a massive hole the size of a basketball on the trunk of the tree. At that moment he was glad the young Elestia was on his side.

Without wasting any time Oliver returned the fawn into her gem and then took the bird's limp body and dragged it back to the cave. As soon as he entered inside Clara made a disgusted face as she watched him come back with the bird's carcass. ''When you told me to go fetch wood I didn't think it was to cook an Elestia.'' Oliver shrugged before taking a large knife from his backpack and cutting up the bird. She instantly looked away from the gory display and tried to not lose her nonexistant lunch. 

Oliver didn't know why but Elestia became really easy to cut once they died. But while they were alive the knife could do absolutely nothing to them. Maybe someone smarter than him knew the reason why, but he certainly didn't. ''I was kind of hoping for a bigger catch but we still can share.'' He said to Clara once he was done with taking out the organs.

At that she instantly turned green and shook her head. ''You can keep it, I don't eat meat.''

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that. ''So you're a vegetarian? No offense but how the heck did you survived this long? In this world you can't really be picky about what you eat.'' Clara didn't respond instead she decided to leave the cave. Oliver assumed she was trying to go search for food she would actually like and decided to leave her alone while he cooked his meal.

Fortunately they wouldn't need to search for food for Sandy. The little fawn was more than happy to simply graze on grass occasionally. She would also feed on berries when they were lucky enough to find them. But it seemed like her favorite source of food was the sun. Everytime she was outside the young Elestia would stand in the sunlight with a content look in her face. Oliver knew Earth Elestia were part plants but he didn't know they could also do photosynthesis, Elestia really were mysterious beings. 

Once he judged the bird Elestia had been cooked well enough he eagerly took a bite out of it. Unsurprisingly it tasted a bit similar to chicken. But there was also a bit of a weird taste acompanying it that he couldn't place. But it was similar enough to make Oliver remember when he and his father would go out at their favorite restaurant.

Finally he let out a sigh once he was done with the meal. It had been a long time since he ate that well. Maybe having an Elestia wasn't so bad after all. His calm demeanor disappeared once he heard the sound of footsteps coming toward him. But he relaxed when he saw that it was just Clara coming back. But then his eyes widened when he noticed she had a large backpack with her filled to the brim with all sort of food that would last a really long time. things like oats, dried fruits and canned beans was filling almost all of the bag.

''Where the heck did you find all this?!'' Oliver asked in shock.

She laughed at his reaction. ''I paid for it, apparently they use empty cans of food as currency here and I knew that the CGO hideout was full of it. So I 'borrowed' them and paid for all this stuff. It was surprisingly cheap. I guess the people in town feel so safe they don't think they will need this in the future, oh well if anything happen it's their loss I guess.''

''Wait you returned in town?! You know we're supposed to be fugitives right?!'' He shouted in concern, now he was wondering if they should make a run for it before a bunch of angry townfolks come at them with torches and pitchforks.

''Correction _you_ are a fugitive. The people in town didn't even remembered who I was when I was there.'' She said with a proud smile.

Oliver sighed in defeat, he guessed it would make sense that people would only remember the guy with the Elestia rather than the girl following him. ''Fine, fine I guess I should thank you for buying for all this. Now I won't have to risk my life hunting for Elestia every days.'' Clara smiled proudly at that, he wondered if she was proud because of his praise or just because she had managed to stop him from killing more Elestia for food. ''Well I guess we should go then, we've wasted enough time in this forest we need to make our way to the Ding Dong Community.''

With a nod from her head they began to walk to the west. They didn't have much resistance from Elestia which was not surprising. The Knights of Humanity had wiped out most of the dangerous Elestia in this forest. All that was left were the more dociles ones. But even dociles Elestia could be their death if they felt threatened by them. Which is why they made many detours everytime they saw a creature in the way.

''So what is it like in the Ding Dong Community? I only read about it in on a newspaper, but they didn't say much about it. The writer was too busy bashing them for being Elestia lovers.'' She said with a roll of her eyes.

Oliver put both of his hands on the back of his head as he walked. ''Well if rumors are to be believed the Ding Dong Resistance is one of the most powerful group in Orchestralia along with the Knights. And just like the Knights they keep a lot of the Elestia population in check. The major difference between the two groups is that the Ding Dong Resistance will go out of their way to spare Elestia if they can. But they're not above killing creatures that are deemed too dangerous for the settlements safety.'' 

Clara nodded seeming satisfied with the answer. ''Do the Resistance and the Knights fight often?''

At that Oliver chuckled and shook his head. ''It happen sometime when they meet in the wild. But the Knights are too afraid to approach their community for any real fights to occur.''

Clara rosed an eyebrow at that. ''Is the Resistance really powerful enough to make a group like the Knights of Humanity afraid?'' She asked in an impressed tone.

Oliver shook his head again in response. ''Don't get me wrong the Resistance is powerful. But the Knights would be brave enough to fight them if their community was just a normal settlement. But even they wouldn't dare approach Ringabell City.'' He said in a grim voice.

Clare looked at him in confusion. ''What does Ringabell City has to do with this?'' She asked him. 

Oliver stared at her incrediously. ''So you don't even know where their community is?'' Clara shook her head sheepishly. ''Well the Ding Dong Community is right under the ruins of Ringabell City.''

Clara nodded but still look confused. ''I guess that's something, but I don't see why that would make the Knights afraid. Ringabell City is just a massive ruins right?''

Oliver sighed in exasperation. ''Man you're really sheltered aren't you?'' At that the girl looked away in embarassment. ''The reason why the Knights are scared of Ringabell City is very simple. It's because it's Boreas territory.''

At that the girl stopped walking completely and her face became pale. ''Wait... You're saying we're going straight into the Winter's Dragon's den?!'' She asked in alarm, Oliver nodded in confirmation. ''You could have told me this sooner! How the heck are we supposed to go there without dying?!'' She glared accusingly toward him.

''Hey! I thought this was just common knowledge. How the heck was I supposed to know you knew nothing about the outside world?'' He asked defensively, she only huffed in response. ''Beside it's not as dangerous as you think. People have been monitoring the Dragons for years and they found that Dragons usually sleep for almost three weeks per month. The Ding Dong Resistance keep a close eye on the Winter Dragon and has placed alarms everywhere in the city to warn people, so if the Dragon is awake we'll know instantly and come back another time.''

''Fine but if I die I'm coming back to haunt you.'' She said in her best menacing voice.

''You can't haunt me if I'm dead too.'' Oliver responded cheekily which resulted in another huff from the girl. Their journey in the forest continued in silence, it took them most of the day to cross it and when night came they managed to find a old abandoned car where they slept for the night...

\- - - - -

''Welcome to Fluoti Town? Do you know of this place Oliver?'' Clara asked him.

He nodded his head with a nostalgic look in his eyes. ''This is where I used to live when my mother was still alive. She died when I was four years old and I was sent to go live with my father in Ringabell City. This was one of the first town to fall when Boreas invaded ten years ago. It has been abandoned ever since.'' 

''Oh... I'm sorry.'' She said while bitting her lips..

But he only shook his head and gave her a sad smile. ''It's not your fault, maybe that's a horrible thing to say but I'm happy she died before the Invasion. At least she didn't have to live in this hopeless world like me.'' He said in a bitter tone.

Clara didn't know how to responded to that so she stayed silent and followed him as he walked into town. As they entered into the limits of Fluoti Town Oliver felt a cold shiver into his spine. There was something off in the air he couldn't explain. Both teenagers froze when they heard a low moaning coming from further away. ''What was that?'' Clara asked in a fearful voice. Oliver could only shrug in response.

And then something rounded the corner and both of their face went pale. The man, if you could even call it that, was a walking rotting corpse. They could see some of it's bones coming out of it's side and one of it's eyes had fallen off. He was missing many patch of hairs on his head and his teeth were almost completely black. As soon as it had spotted them the creature began to shamble quickly toward them.

With a scream both Oliver and Clara started running in the opposite direction. Only to find more rotting corpses blocking the exit of the town. Taking Clara's hand Oliver began to run into town and ran into a small back alley. They met a few Elestia rodents in the way. But fortunately for them the Elestia just ran away from them when they saw the duo approaching.

They could still hear the creatures moaning in the distance but they didn't dare look behind themselves. Oliver tried to open a door to a apartment building, but much to his dismay the door was locked. Shaking his head he tried another door and this one was locked too. Deciding to give up on the apartment buildings the two of them began to run away once again into the back alleys. Much to their horror one of the undead was blocking the exit of the back alley. Oliver quickly took his Draconid Gem and yelled out Sandy's name.

The fawn instantly appeared and took a defensive stance in front of the shambling abomination. ''Sandy get it out of our way quick!'' The Elestia stomped on the ground and vines came erupting out of the concrete with a loud crack. Then the vines slapped the undead with multiple heavy blows that sent it flying unto the opposite wall. ''Thank you Sandy, return!'' The fawn was sent back into the gem with a brown flash of energy and the two teens started running again.

They came across an old worn down libraries. When she saw it Clara eyes instantly lit up. ''A libraries! This is the perfect place to hide!'' She said with so much glee that Oliver was almost questioning her sanity. Normally he wouldn't really have considered this place to hide but he didn't think he could convince her of the contrary even if he tried. He tried to open the door but with a hopeless feeling in his gut he realised it was locked too. He was about to give up on the library, but then Clara noticed a small writting at the bottom of the door. ''Oliver look at this!'

He looked at the writting in confusion and then looked at her with a deadpan expression. ''I can't read, remember?''

At that she blushed in embarassment. ''Oh right... It's says knock three times if you're alive. Maybe there's still someone inside!'' She said with a hopeful expression. Oliver did as the writting suggested and anxiously waited in front of the door. Finally they heard a click coming from the other side and an old man holding a baseball bat opened the door. But he lowered his weapon when he noticed the two of them.

''Oh real people!'' He said joyfully. ''I thought for a moment those damn corpses learned how to knock at doors, come in quickly!'' The two teens quickly made their way inside and sighed in relief once the old man locked the door behind himself. ''My goodness it's been an eternity since anyone came around these parts. I am Timothy Wood I was a librarian here before all this happened. Most people have left a long time ago but I was too attached to this place and decided I would live here until the day I died.'' The old man chuckled. ''People always used to say I was a stubborn old prune, I guess they were right.''

Oliver looked at the old man with a disbelieving stare he had stopped listening once he had said his name and now he had to ask him something. ''Umm Mr. Timothy did you used to know an Isabelle Wilden? She used to go by Wood before she married.'' He asked with a hopeful expression.

The old man stopped in his tracks and turned toward the boy and saw him in a new light. ''You're Oliver aren't you? I-I thought you were dead all this time, I'm sorry I didn't look for you.'' He said barely containing the tears from escaping his eyes.

''S-so you knew my mother?'' Oliver asked in shock

The old man nodded with a smile on his face. ''Of course I did, she was my niece. Your mother was loved by everyone in town. The town never really recovered after she died. And then those Dragons came out of nowhere and I heard that both you and your father died. Is Franklin still alive as well?'' Oliver shook his head sadly. Timothy sighed in disappointment. ''I'm sorry you had to go throught all that alone.'' He said with a crestfallen expression.

During all the talking Clara had stayed silent but she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard something banging loudly on the door. Followed by a guttural moan. ''What are those things? They look like zombies, like from these old horror movies.'' Clara said with a shaky voice.

Timothy shook his head. ''I don't really know, these things showed up about a month ago. The town was pretty peaceful before this. The only thing I had to worry about were small birds and rats Elestia. But I recognise some of these undead. The other day I saw the corpses of the old mayor and the old sheriff walking around town. My theory is that a powerful Elestia wandered into the cemetery and somehow woke up the dead.''

Oliver shook in anger as he heard that. ''Those damn Elestia, it's not enough they kill hundred of thousands of us each years. Now they have to disturb the rest of our dead too?!''

Timothy put a hand on the shoulder of Oliver. ''I know that the Invasion has cost us a lot. But you shouldn't let anger cloud your judgement. Not all Elestia are hell-bent on killing us, in fact from my experience Elestia are very similar to animals. That is if animals had the power to shoot fire balls and bolt of lightnings with a single thought. In fact here take this, it should be really useful to you.''

The old man walked away into another room and Oliver and Clara followed behind him. Clara eyes widened in wonder when she entered the room and saw rows upon rows of books. There was books from anything from fantasy and science fiction, to history, romance, comedy, police novels, etc.

The old man stopped upon a newer looking book than the rest of them and proudly gave it to Oliver. He instantly gave it to Clara who squealed in joy. Finally calming herself she readed the title of the book outloud. ''World of Elestia: A Basic Guide For Beginner Chosens by Benjamin Dogwood.''

''People from the Ding Dong Resistance gave this to me when they came here on a supply run. It has helped me avoid a lot of troubles ever since I read it.'' Timothy said with a smile.

''It's a dumb name this is not their world it ours!'' Oliver said with a frown on his face.

At that Timothy sighed sadly. ''I don't think this is what he meant when he wrote the book. But either way I think the title is right. As much as it pains me to admit it, this is not our world anymore. It's the world of the Elestia, it has been since the time every major cities fell to the Dragons.'' Oliver didn't respond but he was seething at the old man words. ''Anyway you should still read the book even if you don't agree with the title it will prove invaluable to you if you plan to go back on the road.'' Oliver grumbled something under his breath that vaguely sounded like 'don't know.'

''What was that?'' The old man asked quizzically.

''I don't know how to read alright?! I never learned to, so that stupid book is useless to me!'' He exclaimed with a shameful expression. 

Timothy looked confused at his declaration. ''You don't know how to read? Didn't your par- oh right. Sorry I have a bad memory these days, I would forget my head if it wasn't attached to my neck.'' He said while looking anywhere but in the eyes of the boy. ''Well there's no way I'm letting a member of my family be illiterate for the rest of their life, stay here I have something that might help you.''

Timothy walked toward a section of the library simply labelled as 'kids'. He came back with two books one of them had various picture of smiling farm animals which made Oliver cringed as soon as he saw it. The second book had a picture of a child falling from a ravine and landing on top of yellow flowers.

''These books helped me learn how to read when I was young. The one with the far, animals is a very basic book for toddlers.'' Oliver gave him a glare at that. Timothy shook his head and stared back at him. ''Look I know you don't like it but you must begin at the very begining, if you start with the more complicated stuff you won't get anywhere.''

Oliver sighed in defeat and took the books in his hands. ''Fine thank you for the books. Uncle Timothy.''

Clara put a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. ''Don't worry I'll also help you learn how to read . But in the meantime I'm going to learn all I can from this book it will be very useful on our way to the Ding Dong Community.''

Timothy looked surprise at the girl's words. ''You're going to Ringabell City? Forgive me Oliver but you don't look like the type to go to a place like that. They don't really... Share your disdain for Elestia.''

Oliver sighed before retreving the brown Draconid Gem from his pocket. ''I know but I don't really have a choice, the Knights saw I had this.''

Timothy looked really concerned as he looked down on the faintly glowing gem, but reluctantly he nodded. ''Yes the Ding Dong Community would certainly be the best place to escape those extremists. But I should warn you since you have a Elestia with you, they're probably going to try to draft you into the Ding Dong Resistance.

Oliver shrugged at that. ''Honestly I don't really have anything else to do with my life so maybe it could be good, you know being part of something bigger than myself. I still don't don't know how to feel about working with people who actually like the monsters that destroyed our world thought.'' At that Clara shook her head at him but decided to let it go for now.

''Well it could be worse, at least they don't worship the damn Dragons like that crazy Cult of The Great Ones.'' Timothy said with disdain. At the mention of that name Oliver could see Clara flinch in the corner of his vision.

''Yeah CGO, I used to think they were just a small cult hidden in a hole somewhere where they couldn't hurt anyone. But the other day we-'' Before he could finish what he was saying Clara put a hand over his mouth to stop him from talking. He looked at her in confusion. She raised a finger toward her lips in a silencing motion before releasing him. He decided to follow her order but he was confused as to why she didn't wanted to share that information.

''I think the undead have calmed down enough, we should really leave town while we can.'' Oliver said after a while, but just as he was about to walk away he was stopped by Timothy.

''No, you should stay until the sun go down.'' Seeing their quizzical expression he continued. ''I don't know why but during the night all the undead leave the streets and go back to the cemetery my guess is that they go see the Elestia that control them. For what purpose I don't know, But the night is the safest time to go outside.'' 

Oliver rosed an eyebrow at that. ''Weird usually in all the stories, night-time is when the monsters are the most active.''

Meanwhile Clara had opened up the book she was given and read it at an alarming speed. ''This book really don't have much information on Elestia it basically only tell to be careful around feral ones and when you become a Chosen you should take care of your Elestia by feeding it daily and making it feel loved. Any decent person would arleady know to do that.'' She said in a disappointed tone, but then her eyes lit up when she turned another page and saw a picture of a familiar Elestia. ''look! I found an entry about Sandy's species! It says here she's what is called a Fawna.'' 

Oliver groaned at the name and Timothy chuckled. ''Yeah from what I heard Professor Dogwood is big fan of puns.'' The old man said with mirth in his voice.

''What about your precious mouse, does she have an awful name too?'' Oliver asked snarkily.

''Well like I said there's not much information on Elestia but let me see...'' She quickly flipped the pages until she found the image of the familiar winged mouse. ''Ah ah! It says here that her species is named Rodair.'' Oliver proceeded to slam his head unto a table with a loud bang. 

Just as the old man as suggested they waited until the night to leave the library. They slept the rest of the day away so they wouldn't have to sleep as soon as they left the town. Timothy surprised Oliver by giving him a bone crushing hug before he could leave. ''I wish I could do more for you, if you need of anything you can come back here anytimes, alright?'' The brown-haired boy reluctantly nodded and then departed into the night with Clara in tow.

\- - - - -

Travelling on the road during the night was a new experience for Oliver. Usually he would find a place to hide as soon as the sun disappeared. Afterall dangerous predators often lurk in the dark. As if to prove his point both teenagers heard the sound of a heavy pairs of wings flapping into the sky. Without hesitation both of them hid themselves behind the wall of a building and much to their horror they saw something huge land into the streets with a loud crash.

The creature was a towering monstrosity that vaguely resembled a bat with razor sharp teeth. As if that wasn't enough It had a long scorpion tail trailing behind it and large red glowing eyes that sent shiver down Oliver spines. The monster sniffed around and then roared as it found something. The two teens thought their day had come, but instead of coming for them the large creature ran toward an abandoned car and effortlessly tossed it away with one of it's leg.

Hiding under the car was another much less intimidating Elestia. It was a small black feline similar to a cat with blue glowing eyes. It had large ears that were almost bigger than it's head and on it's forehead there was a gem glowing with the same blue color as it's eyes. The cat-like creature hissed toward the huge predator before the gem on it's forhead began to glow brightly engulfing the entire street into a blue light.

The giant bat and the two teens had to close their eyes as the light overwhelmed them. As soon as Oliver opened up his eyes again he felt something drop into the pit of his stomach. Standing where the cat used to be was a massive snarling dragon that proceeded to roar loudly toward the gigantic bat. The monstrosity screeched in alarm and flew away with it's tail between it's legs.

As soon as it was gone the Dragon was engulfed into a blue light and it returned back into the form of a black cat. Oliver turned to Clara with a disturbed expression. ''Did that cat justy turned into a Dragon?'' He whispered as silently as he could.

Clara looked at the cat with interest before taking the book she had just received and flipped it to a specific page. ''It say here that Elestia with the Mind Nature can create illusions to scare away predators. We should move away from here before that other Elestia realise he's been fooled.'' With a nodded Oliver walked away with urgency in his steps. He had learned his lesson he definetly didn't want to travel at night anymore.

The rest of the night was spent without much more incident. They had managed to leave the town and now they were on a large highway that had not been used since the Invasion. The road had many cracks on it and some patch of grass could be seen poking from a lot of them. Eventually they were forced to cross a bridge above a river. Oliver did not like that at all. He had heard that sometime lake would be home to large monsters that would come out and attack travellers like them. He watched the water warily the whole way thought, but all he saw were some fish Elestia who didn't pay them any mind.

As they came closer to their destination the temperature gradually became colder and colder until eventually they could see snow falling from the sky. Clara looked at the sky in confusion. ''What the heck, why is it snowing? I thought we were in the middle of spring.'' She asked in bemusement.

Oliver clenched his jaw and glared angrily toward the sky. ''Ringabell City and it's surrounding has been stuck into a permanent winter for the last ten years. It's because of Boreas influence, everywhere he goes winter follow him.'' As they continued on the road they a massive worn down sign that proclaimed 'Ringabell City two kilometers.' Oliver turned toward Clara. ''I think we should stop here for today.'' 

Clara looked at him in shock. ''What why?! We're so close to our destination we could sleep on a bed tonight if we continue to walk.'' She said in a protest.

At that Oliver chuckled which made her even more frustrated. ''Sorry to disappoint you princess, but Ringabell City is massive. They're a very good chance we'll get lost in there. And I don't know about you, but I arleady feel tired from walking all night. I don't want to arrive in front of the Resistance dead on my feet. I trust them as far as I can throw them and it wouldn't leave a good impression.''

Clara sighed clearly disappointed at his words. ''Fine but we should find a warmer spot to sleep it's arleady pretty cold around here.'' At that Oliver nodded. They managed to find a old abandoned gas station that also served as a convenience store close to the road and decided to stop there for the night. Most of the food inside had either been looted or had rotted a long time ago. But they managed to find a few cans of beans that they decided to take with them. They also foud a very convenient portable stove. The stove needed alcohol and not gas to work which was very convenient since most of the gas had rot a long time ago.

Oliver and Clara used the stove to cook a can of bean. Oliver had never been a fan of the taste but he had eaten way worse than this to survive. The stove also helped for heating up the building a little bit. Once they were done there was enough beans left so Clara decided to give some of it to Marie. Reluctantly Oliver also decided to give some to Sandy the little Fawna did not seem to like the taste of the beans however and decided to try to get as much sunlight as she could outside.

Then the two of them brought out their sleeping bags. Clara had bought the sleeping bag while she had been shopping at Melody Town. It was a good thing too, they would need all the rest they could have for tomorrow. There was no telling what they would find inside the frozen city of Ringabell...

\- - - - -

The next day the two teens were climbing over a slope. Both of them caught their breath as Ringabell City finally came into view. The city was hard to describe into words. You could be forgiven if you thought that the city was a huge sculpture made by a mad artist with way too much time on his hands. It was as if the city had been litterally frozen into a specific moment in time.

But Oliver could not admire the art displayed before him. For he knew that millions of people had died to make it happen. The skyscrapers looked like giant upside-down stalactite reaching high into the sky. The many cars in the street were all covered by a deep layer of snow that made them barely recognisable. And what made Oliver's blood boil was that he could occasionally spot people eternally frozen into the last moment of their life. Most of them had a look of horror upon their face but a few of them could be seen frozen in mid-step with a calm expression as if they died before they realised anything was wrong.

''This place... It's a graveyard.'' Clara said barely above a whisper.

''Let's go we need to find the Ding Dong Community before night-time.'' Having said that Oliver searched through his pocket and retrieved the familiar brown gem where his Elestia was held.

Clara looked at him in confusion. ''What are you doing?''

At that Oliver's expression grew stern and he looked at her. ''Even if he's not here right now this is still Boreas territory. Which mean it's going to be crawling with Ice Elestia. Sandy will be able to detect danger way before we do and she will be our best line of defense if something find us... Speaking of that, your Elestia should also help in case something happen.''

At that Clara grew protective and she held her pouch against her chest. ''Marie doesn't fight, she can be our eyes in the sky but she won't be able to help if a fight break out.''

Oliver looked at her quizzically. ''What do you mean she doesn't fight? She's an Elestia of course she can fight!''

Clara shook here head with a sad expression. ''Marie... Doesn't have any powers.''

Oliver was stunned at the revelation. ''What?! I have never heard of an Elestia without powers how did that happen?''

Clara sighed bitterly at that. ''CGO happened.'' Was all she said before she walked away. Oliver wanted to ask what she meant but he recognised that she didn't want to talk about it right now so they stayed in silence as they slowly made their way inside the city.

''Brrr, It's really cold here we should have bought a coat.'' Clara said while trying to warm herself up by rubbing her hands together.

''Unfortunately any coat there was in this city probably froze solid along with anything else.'' Oliver said with a frown on his face. Sandy ears suddenly perked up and she looked up toward an alley with a defensive stance. ''Look like there's something in that alley, let's go around it. I want to meet as few Elestia as possible.'' At that Clara nodded and they made a detour. Oliver caught his breath as they arrived in a very familiar street. Without thinking he began to walk foward and stopped in front of a frozen figure.

Clara was surprised at Oliver actions but she quickly catched up to him and saw that he was looking at another frozen person with barely concealed tears. The person in question was a middle-aged man dressed into a white suit. The man was glaring into the sky defiant until his last moments.

Before she could even ask the question on her mind Oliver answered her. ''This was my father, he sacrificed himself so I could run away from Boreas. I hated him for a long time for it. I wished that he would have tried to run away with me and if we died well. I always thought it would have been a better fate that being alone in this world of monsters... But my father was always an optimist I'm sure he thought there was hope for me and that's why he sacrificed himself. I don't know if his hope for my future was misplaced or not but I hope he was right. Since I met you and Sandy I decided I want to change this world by any means necessary. I can't handle to live in this world without any hopes anymore. I have to do something even if it's hopeless at least I will have tried.''

Clara didn't know what to say to that so she stayed silent as Oliver continued to look at the frozen figure of his father. Suddenly they heard a cry from an Elestia far in the distance soon more and more Elestia joined in into the cry creating a cacophony of animalistic sounds ''What the hell is happening?!'' Clara asked with a panicked expression.

And then as if the sound of hundred of screaming Elestia wasn't enough a loud alarm began to blare in the entire city and at that sound Oliver face paled to become as white as a sheet. ''The Winter Dragon is waking up!'' He yelled in horror before grabbing Clara by the hand and making a run for it. Sandy was not far behind them the poor little Fawna didn't know what was happening. But she knew it wasn't anything good and so she decided to follow Oliver example.

Then a loud roar echoed into the ruined city, louder than any other Elestia. And a familiar serpentine body came into the sky. It was a figure Oliver had seen very often in his nightmares and so he instantly recognised the Dragon in the distance. The boy froze in his track not able to move a single muscle. Clara saw the look of pure dread upon Oliver's face. ''Oliver we need to hide!'' But he did not responded instead he stayed frozen on the spot.

Summoning all her strength she grabbed the arm of Oliver and pulled him and herself behind a frozen car. Then she took the brown Draconid Gem from his pocket and hid Sandy back into her gem. The Dragon flew over the sky and sniffed into the air. It could smell that something new had entered inside the city. But it could not pinpoint what or where it was, not yet. Boreas continued to search for the smell. Finally he found the source of the scent behind a frozen vehicle. With a roar he quickly flew toward it and effortlessly tossed it away with it's tail.

Upon impacting the ground the car exploded like it was made of glass sending shards of ice everywhere in the streets. Clara looked up in horror as the Dragon looked at them with a predatory gleam in it's eyes. Boreas opened his mouth wide open exposing his razor sharp teeth to the girl. Then he lunged for the kill, but just before he could reach them a cloud of fog exploded into the Dragon's face and he growled in anger.

Clara could only look in confusion at the sudden fog that had appeared out of nowhere. That was until a group of four men wearing light armor with an insignia of a red fist painted on the surface of a bell ran toward her. All of them had an Elestia following them obediently. ''Are you insane wandering in this city like that?!'' A blonde man exclaimed in both angrily. ''Come with us right now or else you will die!'' The man said. Oliver finally snapped out of his shock and nodded sheepishly toward the men along with Clara. 

The armored Men were quick and effective, unlike Oliver and Clara they didn't take any detours when they encountered wild Elestia. Any creatures foolish enough to attack them was blasted into next week by their powerful trained Elestia. The Dragon was frantically searching for it's escaping prey but somehow it had completely lost their scent after the fog had appeared. After a while it decided to give up deciding that two kids was not worth all the effort it would take to find them.

Finally the group arrived in front of the entance of what used to be a metro. Clara was confused as to why they had come here but the men said nothing and dragged them inside the underground station. Once inside she was shocked to see what the metro had becomed. What once was a place for transportation had been transformed into a small community full of tents. They were many stalls selling various items from food, to guns, to armors and there was even a fancy looking stall that was much bigger than the other and they were selling Draconid Gems at a high price. Oliver never saw people selling Draconid Gems before. He thought they were very rare but maybe these people had found a way to find more of them. One of the men smiled at the two teens as they saw their amazemenet.

''Impressed? This is just a small part of the Ding Dong Community. If you follow the rails you'll be able to visit the other branches or as we call them 'stations' of our community. All the metro stations of Ringabell City has been turned into a small settlement like this one and together we are fighting to reclaim our world.''

An effeminate male voice cut him off before he could continue. ''Dave my darling leave the poor little dears alone. they just escaped Boreas they don't need to hear your propaganda right now.'' The man known as Dave glared toward the man who had interupted him.

Now that they were calm the two teens took the time to look at the men who had saved them. Dave was a young looking man in his early twenty. He had blonde hair and brown eyes. He along with the other men were wearing what looked like riot gear suits. The man who had interupted Dave had long curly brown hair. Under his vest they could see that he wore a pink shirt and on his ears there was a pair of pearl earings. He had a constant smirk on his face and Oliver had to fight back an embarassed blush when he teasingly winked toward him.

The third man looked like the youngest of the group he was probably around eighteen or nineteen years old. He had dark hair and wore a pair of thick glasses. He had a slightly darker skin than the other men surrounding him. He also had the trademark almond-shaped eyes typical for people from the Elementean continent. He seemed to want to act professionally but he smiled a little bit when he caught the two teens staring at him.

But the person that caught the attention of Oliver and Clara the most was the last man. He was the only one that had not looked at them at all ever since they entered the metro. He wore black sunglasses and a hood over his head along with a large black raincoat. As if that wasn't enough the man also wore a black cape behind himself which almost made him look like a supervillain. Oliver was instantly wary of him, why was he the only one of the group that tried so hard to conceal his features? He knew that the Ding Dong Community was known to accept outcasts. So it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that this man was a criminal trying to not be recognised outside of the Ding Dong Community.

  
Dave collected himself and proceeded to turn back toward the two teens his professional smile sliding into place. ''Now can you tell us what the two of you were thinking wandering around Ringabell City like this? This is not a place for kids you know. This is a Dragon territory, if you wanted the Resistance to do a mission for you there are many settlements in Orchestralia where you can send messages to us.''

Oliver shook his head and prepared himself for what he steeled himself for what he was about to say. ''We came here in hope to join the Ding Dong Community.''

The four men lookes at each other with surprise on their face. Dave frowned and looked back at Oliver. ''Well it's not often that two kids come here alone to join us, usually they come here with parents. Tell us why do you want to come live here? This place is one of the most dangerous settlement in the country. Not only that but if you come here wether you're a civilian or a member of the Resistance you will be expected to work hard for the betterment of the Community.''

''I don't have anywhere else to go.'' Oliver said before retreving his brown Dragonic Gem from his pocket. ''Sandy come out!'' The Fawna came out of the gem letting out a loud grunt as she was released. The four men tensed a little bit when the Elestia had emerged from the gem but relaxed once they saw that it was docile.

''I see, so you're a Chosen huh? That explain why you wanted to come here so badly, I can count on one hand the community that would accept a Chosen into their wall.'' He then turned toward Clara. ''What about you? Are you a Chosen too or did you just decided to follow your boyfriend?'' He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

At that Clara face turned as red as a tomato. ''He's not my boyfriend!'' She yelled clearly embarrassed about the whole situation. Opening her pouch she presented Marie to the blonde man. 

Dave nodded as he saw the small Elestia in the hands of the girl. ''I see so you're a Chosen as well. Well I guess I have no choice then, come with me. We will go see the mayor of Ding Dong. That's the person who will decide if you can stay here.'' At that both teens nodded. Really hoping they wouldn't be kicked out of the Community and made all this journey for nothing...


End file.
